The Washington Nationals seem to go as their starting pitcher and James Wood goes. Did you know that the Nats are 25-14 when Wood has at least one RBI? The team is 13-42 with no Wood’s RBI.
Then we got this from Chuck Douglas that since Wood was named as a HR Derby participant and started to routinely practice launching dingers he is 3-24 (.125) BA with 10 K’s over the past seven games. Douglas wrote, “Was worried it might mess up his in-game swing and that seems exactly what has happened.”
This afternoon’s game will feature Shinnosuke Ogasawara for the Washington Nationals in his second start after sliding into the spot vacated by the injured Trevor Williams.
“The first two innings were good, and the [third inning] they were putting the barrel on the ball, it was just one bad inning. That’s it. That’s all. And after that, [Mitchell Parker] battled back. He gave us a couple more innings. But we gotta keep battling.”
— interim manager Miguel Cairo said
The bullpen usage looks like this:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders with James Wood at +3.8, MacKenzie Gore at +3.1 CJ Abrams at +3.0, and . Add those up, and you get a total of +9.9 WAR. The issue is the large gap between those players and the next tier.
On defense, the stats are clear as to what his defense is all about. Jacob Young is the team’s OAA leader at +6.0 and Brady House is now on the list at +1.0. James Wood is at +1.0 on his OAA, and that is a good sign from where he had been early in the season.
One of the newest Nats, Daylen Lile, is already at a -4.0 OAA and that is unsustainable as that is one of the worst marks in baseball if you extrapolated it for a full-season. Luis Garcia Jr. has slumped this season defensively to a -7.0 already — and with CJ Abrams, they combine for -13.0 OAA. That is the worst middle infield in baseball and entirely unacceptable.
Another defensive issue that we have discussed is the positioning of Nathaniel Lowe at first base as he is too often out of position to make a play — and OAA has his chance at success at only 65 percent which must improve. His OAA is at -0.4 now, and that just makes the situation even worse. With as little as Amed Rosario has played on defense, he is at -8.0 OAA this season and the worst on the team. Per Statcast, his defense has cost the Nationals 5-runs. Is his offense good enough to make up that deficit if he plays the field or should he only DH and PH? Keibert Ruiz, per Statcast, has a -8.0 OAA also. The Nationals were supposed to be better on defense. That clearly isn’t the case.
These are your stats leaders on BBRef. There are certainly some surprises on there — good and not so good.
“We just gotta keep battling.”
— Miguel Cairo said after yesterday’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.80 and 26th best in MLB. You might be surprised at the team just ahead of the Nationals in the rankings. The reliever’s ERA sits at a 5.79 and now the worst in baseball in ERA.
Here is how the starters rank by ERA:
No. 5 Starter: Trevor Williams 6.21
No. 4 Starter: Michael Soroka 5.35
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 5.12
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 4.78
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.02
Washington Nationals vs. Milwaukee Brewers
Stadium: American Family Field, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1st Pitch: 4:10 pm EDT
TV: MASN2
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app; In Spanish on DC 87.7 FM and La Pantera 100.7 FM/1220 AM. On Sirius/XM, tune to Channel 179 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
- CJ Abrams SS LH
- James Wood LF LH
- Josh Bell DH SH
- Nathaniel Lowe 1B LH
- Luis Garcia Jr. 2B LH
- Brady House 3B RH
- Daylen Lile RF LH
- Riley Adams C RH
- Jacob Young CF RH
